The 2008–09 season was Manchester United‘s 17th season in the Premier League, and their 34th consecutive season in the top division of English football. After winning a third consecutive Premier League title for the second time to equal Liverpool‘s record of 18 league titles, the team aimed to become the first team to retain the European Cup since Milan in 1990. However, they were beaten 2–0 by Barcelona in the final at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on 27 May 2009.

In December 2008, the club became the first English side to win the FIFA Club World Cup when they beat LDU Quito 1–0 in the final. Two months later, on 1 March 2009, the club added the 2008–09 League Cup to their trophy cabinet with a 4–1 penalty shootout win over Tottenham Hotspur after a goalless 120 minutes in the final.

United secured a third consecutive Premier League with a goalless draw at home to Arsenal on 16 May 2009. This made them the first team ever to win three consecutive English top flight titles on two separate occasions, having previously done so between 1999 and 2001.

Pre-season and friendlies

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
12 July 2008	Aberdeen	A	2–0	Carrick 45′ (pen.), Rooney 70′	22,192
19 July 2008	Kaizer Chiefs	N	1–1	Eagles 60′
22 July 2008	Orlando Pirates	N	1–0	Martin 23′	50,000
26 July 2008	Kaizer Chiefs	N	4–0	Giggs 40′, Rooney 57′, Cleverley 62′, Campbell 86′
27 July 2008	Portsmouth	N	2–1	Eagles 50′, Tévez 65′
2 August 2008	Espanyol	H	1–0	Campbell 82′	68,868
4 August 2008	Peterborough United	A	2–0	R. Martin 38′ (o.g.), Gibson 68′	13,042
6 August 2008	Juventus	H	0–0		69,872

FA Community Shield

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
10 August 2008	Portsmouth	N	0–0 (3–1p)		84,808

UEFA Super Cup

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
29 August 2008	Zenit St. Petersburg	N	1–2	Vidić 73′	18,064

Premier League

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance	League position
17 August 2008	Newcastle United	H	1–1	Fletcher 24′	75,512	10th
25 August 2008	Portsmouth	A	1–0	Fletcher 32′	20,540	5th
13 September 2008	Liverpool	A	1–2	Tévez 3′	44,192	9th
21 September 2008	Chelsea	A	1–1	Park 18′	41,760	15th
27 September 2008	Bolton Wanderers	H	2–0	Ronaldo 60′ (pen.), Rooney 77′	75,484	8th
4 October 2008	Blackburn Rovers	A	2–0	Brown 31′, Rooney 64′	27,321	6th
18 October 2008	West Bromwich Albion	H	4–0	Rooney 56′, Ronaldo 69′, Berbatov 72′, Nani 90′	75,451	4th
25 October 2008	Everton	A	1–1	Fletcher 22′	36,069	5th
29 October 2008	West Ham United	H	2–0	Ronaldo (2) 14′, 30′	75,397	6th
1 November 2008	Hull City	H	4–3	Ronaldo (2) 3′, 44′, Carrick 29′, Vidić 57′	75,398	3rd
8 November 2008	Arsenal	A	1–2	Rafael 90′	60,106	4th
15 November 2008	Stoke City	H	5–0	Ronaldo (2) 3′, 89′, Carrick 45+1′, Berbatov 49′,Welbeck 84′	75,369	3rd
22 November 2008	Aston Villa	A	0–0		42,585	3rd
30 November 2008	Manchester City	A	1–0	Rooney 42′	47,320	3rd
6 December 2008	Sunderland	H	1–0	Vidić 90+1′	75,400	3rd
13 December 2008	Tottenham Hotspur	A	0–0		35,882	3rd
26 December 2008	Stoke City	A	1–0	Tévez 83′	27,500	3rd
29 December 2008	Middlesbrough	H	1–0	Berbatov 69′	75,294	3rd
11 January 2009	Chelsea	H	3–0	Vidić 45′, Rooney 63′, Berbatov 86′	75,455	3rd
14 January 2009	Wigan Athletic	H	1–0	Rooney 1′	73,917	2nd
17 January 2009	Bolton Wanderers	A	1–0	Berbatov 90′	26,021	1st
27 January 2009	West Bromwich Albion	A	5–0	Berbatov 22′, Tévez 44′, Vidić 60′, Ronaldo (2) 65′, 73′	26,105	1st
31 January 2009	Everton	H	1–0	Ronaldo 44′ (pen.)	75,399	1st
8 February 2009	West Ham United	A	1–0	Giggs 62′	34,958	1st
18 February 2009	Fulham	H	3–0	Scholes 12′, Berbatov 29′, Rooney 62′	75,437	1st
21 February 2009	Blackburn Rovers	H	2–1	Rooney 23′, Ronaldo 60′	75,000	1st
4 March 2009	Newcastle United	A	2–1	Rooney 20′, Berbatov 56′	51,636	1st
14 March 2009	Liverpool	H	1–4	Ronaldo 23′ (pen.)	75,569	1st
21 March 2009	Fulham	A	0–2		25,652	1st
5 April 2009	Aston Villa	H	3–2	Ronaldo (2) 13′, 81′, Macheda 90+3′	75,409	1st
11 April 2009	Sunderland	A	2–1	Scholes 19′, Macheda 75′	45,408	1st
22 April 2009	Portsmouth	H	2–0	Rooney 9′, Carrick 82′	74,895	1st
25 April 2009	Tottenham Hotspur	H	5–2	Ronaldo (2) 56′ (pen.), 68′, Rooney (2) 67′, 71′,Berbatov 79′	75,458	1st
2 May 2009	Middlesbrough	A	2–0	Giggs 25′, Park 51′	33,767	1st
10 May 2009	Manchester City	H	2–0	Ronaldo 17′, Tévez 45′	75,464	1st
13 May 2009	Wigan Athletic	A	2–1	Tévez 61′, Carrick 86′	21,286	1st
16 May 2009	Arsenal	H	0–0		75,468	1st
24 May 2009	Hull City	A	1–0	Gibson 24′	24,945	1st

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Manchester United	38	28	6	4	68	24	+44	90
2	Liverpool	38	25	11	2	77	27	+50	86
3	Chelsea	38	25	8	5	68	24	+44	83

Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
4 January 2009	Round 3	Southampton	A	3–0	Welbeck 20′, Nani 47′ (pen.), Gibson 81′	31,901
24 January 2009	Round 4	Tottenham Hotspur	H	2–1	Scholes 35′, Berbatov 36′	75,014
15 February 2009	Round 5	Derby County	A	4–1	Nani 29′, Gibson 43′, Ronaldo 48′, Welbeck81′	32,103
7 March 2009	Round 6	Fulham	A	4–0	Tévez (2) 20′, 35′, Rooney 50′, Park 81′	24,662
19 April 2009	Semi-final	Everton	N	0–0(a.e.t.) (2–4p)		88,141

League Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
23 September 2008	Round 3	Middlesbrough	H	3–1	Ronaldo 25′, Giggs 79′, Nani 90+5′	53,729
11 November 2008	Round 4	Queens Park Rangers	H	1–0	Tévez 76′ (pen.)	62,539
3 December 2008	Round 5	Blackburn Rovers	H	5–3	Tévez (4) 35′, 50′ (pen.), 54′, 90+4′, Nani40′	53,997
7 January 2009	Semi-final First leg	Derby County	A	0–1		30,194
20 January 2009	Semi-final Second leg	Derby County	H	4–2	Nani 16′, O’Shea 22′, Tévez 34′, Ronaldo87′ (pen.)	73,374
1 March 2009	Final	Tottenham Hotspur	N	0–0(a.e.t.) (4–1p)		88,217

Champions League

Group stage

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Group position
17 September 2008	Villarreal	H	0–0		74,944	1st
30 September 2008	Aalborg BK	A	3–0	Rooney 22′, Berbatov (2) 55′, 79′	10,346	1st
21 October 2008	Celtic	H	3–0	Berbatov (2) 30′, 51′, Rooney 76′	74,655	1st
5 November 2008	Celtic	A	1–1	Giggs 84′	58,903	1st
25 November 2008	Villarreal	A	0–0		22,529	1st
10 December 2008	Aalborg BK	H	2–2	Tévez 3′, Rooney 52′	74,382	1st

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Manchester United	6	2	4	0	9	3	+6	10
Villarreal	6	2	3	1	9	7	+2	9
Aalborg BK	6	1	3	2	9	14	−5	6
Celtic	6	1	2	3	4	7	−3	5

Knockout phase

 

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
24 February 2009	First knockout round First leg	Internazionale	A	0–0		80,018
11 March 2009	First knockout round Second leg	Internazionale	H	2–0	Vidić 4′, Ronaldo 49′	74,769
7 April 2009	Quarter-final First leg	Porto	H	2–2	Rooney 15′, Tévez 85′	74,517
15 April 2009	Quarter-final Second leg	Porto	A	1–0	Ronaldo 6′	50,010
29 April 2009	Semi-final First leg	Arsenal	H	1–0	O’Shea 17′	74,733
5 May 2009	Semi-final Second leg	Arsenal	A	3–1	Park 8′, Ronaldo (2) 11′, 61′	59,867
27 May 2009	Final	Barcelona	N	0–2		62,467

Club World Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
18 December 2008	Semi-final	Gamba Osaka	N	5–3	Vidić 28′, Ronaldo 45+1′, Rooney (2) 75′, 79′,Fletcher 78′	67,618
21 December 2008	Final	LDU Quito	N	1–0	Rooney 73′	68,682

Squad statistics

No.	Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Other		Total		Discipline
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	Edwin van der Sar	33	0	2	0	0	0	10	0	4	0	49	0	1	0
2	DF	Gary Neville (c)	13(3)	0	2	0	3	0	3(1)	0	3(1)	0	24(5)	0	3	0
3	DF	Patrice Evra	28	0	2(1)	0	1(1)	0	10(1)	0	4	0	45(3)	0	7	0
4	MF	Owen Hargreaves	1(1)	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2(1)	0	0	0
5	DF	Rio Ferdinand	24	0	3	0	1	0	11	0	4	0	43	0	3	0
6	DF	Wes Brown	6(2)	1	0	0	1	0	0(2)	0	0(2)	0	7(6)	1	3	0
7	MF	Cristiano Ronaldo	31(2)	18	2	1	2(2)	2	11(1)	4	2	1	48(5)	26	9	1
8	MF	Anderson	11(6)	0	3	0	5(1)	0	7(2)	0	3	0	29(9)	0	1	0
9	FW	Louis Saha	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
9	FW	Dimitar Berbatov	29(2)	9	2(1)	1	0	0	5(4)	4	0	0	36(7)	14	2	0
10	FW	Wayne Rooney	25(5)	12	1(1)	1	0(1)	0	11(2)	4	2(1)	3	39(10)	20	9	1
11	MF	Ryan Giggs(vc)	15(13)	2	2	0	3(1)	1	6(5)	1	2	0	28(19)	4	0	0
12	GK	Ben Foster	2	0	3	0	3	0	1	0	0	0	9	0	0	0
13	MF	Park Ji-Sung	21(4)	2	3	1	1	0	5(4)	1	1(1)	0	31(9)	4	5	0
14	MF	Zoran Tošić	0(2)	0	0(1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0(3)	0	0	0
15	DF	Nemanja Vidić	33(1)	4	4	0	2(2)	0	9	1	4	2	52(3)	7	9	2
16	MF	Michael Carrick	24(4)	4	3	0	0(1)	0	9	0	1(1)	0	37(6)	4	3	0
17	MF	Nani	7(6)	1	2	2	6	3	6(1)	0	3	0	24(7)	6	2	0
18	MF	Paul Scholes	14(7)	2	1(1)	1	2(1)	0	3(3)	0	3	0	23(12)	3	6	2
19	FW	Danny Welbeck	1(2)	1	3(2)	2	4(1)	0	0	0	0	0	8(5)	3	0	0
20	DF	Fábio da Silva	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
21	DF	Rafael da Silva	12(4)	1	2	0	5	0	2(2)	0	1	0	22(6)	1	5	0
22	DF	John O’Shea	20(10)	0	3(1)	0	6	1	12	1	1(1)	0	42(12)	2	3	0
23	DF	Jonny Evans	16(1)	0	2(1)	0	5	0	6(1)	0	0(2)	0	29(5)	0	4	0
24	MF	Darren Fletcher	25(1)	3	2(1)	0	0(1)	0	8	0	2(2)	1	37(5)	4	6	1
25	DF	Danny Simpson	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
26	FW	Manucho	0(1)	0	0	0	0(2)	0	0	0	0	0	0(3)	0	0	0
27	DF	Mikaël Silvestre	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
28	MF	Darron Gibson	1(2)	1	2(1)	2	5(1)	0	1(1)	0	0	0	9(5)	3	1	0
29	GK	Tomasz Kuszczak	3(1)	0	0	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	7(1)	0	0	0
30	MF	Lee Martin	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
31	FW	Fraizer Campbell	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0	1(1)	0	1	0
32	FW	Carlos Tévez	18(11)	5	3	2	5(1)	6	4(5)	2	4	0	34(17)	15	7	0
33	MF	Sam Hewson	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
34	MF	Rodrigo Possebon	0(3)	0	0(2)	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	3(5)	0	0	0
35	MF	Tom Cleverley	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
36	DF	David Gray	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
37	DF	Craig Cathcart	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
38	GK	Ron-Robert Zieler	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
39	DF	James Chester	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0	0	0
40	GK	Ben Amos	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
41	FW	Federico Macheda	2(2)	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3(2)	2	2	0
42	DF	Richard Eckersley	0(2)	0	0(2)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0(4)	0	0	0
43	MF	Davide Petrucci	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
44	DF	Ritchie De Laet	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
45	MF	Corry Evans	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
46	MF	Danny Drinkwater	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
47	MF	Matty James	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0